Department for Transport

Official Cars: Procurement

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicles have been procured for the Government Car Service since 2015; and what the country of origin is of each such vehicle.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Fifty three cars were procured for the Government Car Service since January 2015. The country of build for these vehicles is as follows: United Kingdom - 29Spain - 21Belgium - 2Portugal -1

Piccadilly Line: Rolling Stock

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with representatives of Transport for London on the timeframe for the order for new trains for the Piccadilly Line.

Joseph Johnson: The timeframe for the deep tube upgrade programme is a matter for Transport for London .

Network Rail: Bridges

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department  has had with Network Rail on the effect of Network Rail's policies on railway arches on small businesses that are tenants.

Joseph Johnson: The Department has had regular discussions with Network Rail about its commercial estate. On 10 September, Network Rail announced that it had agreed a £1.46bn sale with Telereal Trillium and Blackstone Property Partners for the sale of its commercial estate portfolio. Tenants’ existing rights have been safeguarded in this sale and current agreements between Network Rail and tenants will be fully honoured. The new owner has also agreed to a tenant charter including amongst other commitments to engage in an open and honest manner with their tenants and the community, ongoing transparency regarding publication of data on mix of tenants and the provision of an engagement officer. They have also undertaken to work with long-standing small business tenants that face financial pressure, including offering financial support.

Department for Transport: Public Appointments

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the socio-economic background of people appointed to senior positions in his Department in the last five years.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Civil Service is currently looking at the best way to start implementing the measures published earlier in June across Government Departments, to better understand the background of people appointed in senior positions. The Government is committed to social mobility, and we are committed to creating an organisation in which everybody can thrive.

Motorway Service Areas: Public Lavatories

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made to increase the number of changing places toilets in service stations.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Inclusive Transport Strategy, published by the Department for Transport in July this year, announced £2milion to fund the construction of new Changing Places toilets at motorway service areas. A further announcement on how the funding will be allocated will be made shortly.

Great Western Railway: Fares

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the amount of fare income that First Great Western derived from first class travel in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017.

Joseph Johnson: This information is commercially confidential.

East-West Rail Link

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what signalling system is planned to be used on the East-West rail link.

Joseph Johnson: The East West Rail programme will be delivered in a phased approach with the Western Section Phase 1 already delivered with conventional signalling and the Western Section Phase 2 to also be delivered with conventional signalling. The Central Section Phase 3 is currently in its definition phase and its signalling system is yet to be confirmed. However, the possibility of using a digital European Train Control System (ETCS) across East West Rail is being explored and could be implemented in the future, across all phases, should it provide significant additional benefits for the programme.

Northern: Timetables

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answers of 13 July 2018, 20 July 2018 and 10 September 2018 to Questions 161175, 164445 and 167289, if he will make an assessment of the accuracy of the finding of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership's report, Devolving our railways: learning the lessons from a summer of northern rail chaos, published on 30 July 2018 that the disruption caused by the Northern Rail timetable changes has cost the economy of the north of England £38 million.

Joseph Johnson: In line with answers provided to previous similar questions, the government’s focus has been on ensuring that the industry returns to a stable timetable as quickly as possible and that passengers in the most affected areas are compensated for the disruption caused. This approach is delivering for passengers, with the performance of both Govia Thameslink Railway and Northern having improved significantly in recent weeks, andcompensation schemes are now in place for all of the affected operators ensuring the disruption that passengers have experienced is financially recognised. Improving the performance of our railways in the North remains the focus, reflected in the recent appointment of Richard George as the single person to lead rail performance improvement in the North.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Eggborough Power Station: Closures

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the proposed closure of Eggborough Power Station; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The proposed closure of Eggborough Power Station is a commercial decision and as such the Department holds limited information on this matter. The information we do hold is that Eggborough Power Limited has confirmed that it will continue to meet its obligations under its current Capacity Market Agreement, which runs through to the end of September 2018. The timeframe for closing, decommissioning and demolishing the power station beyond this date is a commercial decision for the company.

Solar Power: Exports

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the export tariff for solar PV for energy exported to the grid will be maintained at 5.24 per kilo watt hour after April 2019.

Claire Perry: In line with the Feed-In Tariffs legislation, the export tariff for solar PV will continue to be adjusted annually in line with the Retail Prices Index for those installations accredited under the scheme.

Construction: Productivity

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to promote productivity in the construction sector.

Richard Harrington: On 5th July, we announced an ambitious Sector Deal with the construction industry to transform the sector’s productivity. This includes the Government’s commitment to invest £170m through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund in the Transforming Construction: Manufacturing Better Buildings programme. The programme will improve productivity through promoting the development and commercialisation of digital, manufacturing, energy generation and storage technologies for the construction and built environment sectors. The Government will also work with the sector to promote increased investment in skills development. This will be achieved through a joint commitment to implement reforms to the Construction Industry Training Board to make it more strategic and industry led, and to enable the sector to make best use of funding from the Apprenticeship Levy. In addition, the government has already committed to investing £600 billion in infrastructure over the next decade to provide the industry with certainty about levels of investment, and to encourage it to invest in skills and new technologies to meet this. The Sector Deal will support this objective.

Energy Supply: Public Sector

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of establishing a publicly-owned not-for-profit energy company similar to that proposed by the Scottish Government.

Claire Perry: The Government wants markets to thrive and continues to promote competition as the best driver of value and service for customers. There are now nearly 70 energy suppliers in the domestic retail energy market including three publicly owned fully-licensed energy suppliers in Great Britain.

Natural Gas: Housing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households in the UK are not connected to the mains gas grid; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: BEIS estimated that 13.9 per cent of households in Great Britain are not connected to the gas grid, equating to approximately 3.7m households.

Carbon Emissions: Overseas Trade

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate has been made of potential additional CO2 emissions created as a result of increased trade with countries outside of the EU.

Claire Perry: The Government publishes experimental statistics on the ‘UK’s Carbon Footprint’. The footprint refers to ‘consumption’ emissions that are associated with the consumption spending of UK residents on goods and services, wherever in the world these emissions arise along the supply chain. The latest publication is available from: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uks-carbon-footprint.This publication does not include projections of potential additional carbon dioxide emissions created as a result of increased trade with countries outside of the EU.The Government is committed to tackling climate change. We are focused on galvanising international action to cut emissions, including by helping to secure the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015, and have been developing our approach on assessing emissions associated with international trade and imports alongside domestic emissions.

Electricity Interconnectors: Europe

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has to develop electricity grid connections with countries in continental Europe.

Claire Perry: Great Britain currently has 3GW of interconnection capacity to continental Europe, via links to France and the Netherlands.There is 4.4GW of new interconnector capacity under construction, which will increase our capacity to France and add connections to Belgium and Norway. In addition, there are further projects that have been given regulatory approval or are in the process of applying for regulatory approval, which could add another 9GW of capacity, but these are at an earlier stage of development.

Home Energy and Lifestyle Management: Kilmarnock and Loudoun

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2018 to Question 154750 on Home Energy and Lifestyle Management: Kilmarnock and Loudoun, what the disclosure issues are that prevent the publication separately of statistics on loans with payback periods of 5-10 years and 10-15 years.

Claire Perry: In order to manage the risk of revealing personal or commercial data, our approach is not to release non-zero counts of less than five for a small geographic area where additional information is provided such as payback period or Green Deal provider. Disclosure control has therefore been applied in the Answer of 18 June 2018 to Question 154750 and other Green Deal questions for small geographic areas.Annually, BEIS publishes table 3.2.5 showing the total number of Green Deal Plans by parliamentary constituency which does include counts less than five but does not provide any additional information about the Plan. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/household-energy-efficiency-national-statistics-detailed-report-2017

Carbon Emissions

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the role of prosumers in the transition to a low carbon economy.

Claire Perry: On 19th July Government published a call for evidence to understand further the challenges and opportunities for small-scale low-carbon generation – including rooftop solar. The call for evidence has now closed to responses. The evidence that has been submitted is being analysed and will be used to inform any future policy proposals in due course.

Research: India

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the (a) potential value of bilateral research between the UK and India in 2022 and (b) value of that research in 2010.

Mr Sam Gyimah: We cannot estimate of the potential value of bilateral research between the UK and India in 2022 as this is outside the current spending review period. However, in 2021 we estimate that the potential value of bilateral research between the UK and India will be £22.3m from the UK, with equivalent match from India. In 2010 we estimate that the value of bilateral research between the UK and India was £4.76m from the UK, with equivalent match from India. This includes research conducted through the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) and research funding committed by RCUK in 2010.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Sheffield

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of his Department's staff are based in his Department's Sheffield office at St Paul’s place.

Richard Harrington: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy currently has approximately 300 staff working outside greater London. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not occupy St Paul’s Place Sheffield and has had no staff based at that location since July 2018.

Energy: Meters

Bill Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to introduce an exemption for charities from authorised supply capacity charges relating to smart meters.

Claire Perry: The Government’s Smart Meter Programme applies to all domestic consumers and small businesses, who do not currently pay these charges regardless of whether they have a smart meter. Currently only certain larger businesses or organisations pay capacity charges.

Energy Supply

John McNally: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the (a) implications for his policies of the 2018 National Grid Future Energy Scenarios which place all peak demand scenarios above 75 GW compared with one scenario over 70 GW in the 2017 scenarios and (b) potential effect of the 2018 scenarios on the operations of distribution network companies.

Claire Perry: National Grid’s Future Energy Scenarios 2018 has been used to analyse peak demand scenarios for the Capacity Market. The Capacity Market secures the electricity capacity required to meet peak demand in a range of scenarios. The targets for Capacity Market auctions are set annually for the delivery year four and one year ahead. These targets are based on advice from National Grid and our Panel of Technical Experts, which uses the analysis in the Future Energy Scenarios. With regard to the distribution network companies, Ofgem’s regulation takes account of potential increases in demand. In addition, BEIS and Ofgem published the Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan in July 2017. This signalled the move to Distribution System Operators where network companies are more actively managing their networks to deal with increasing levels of distribution-connected generation and increasing demand from, for example, electric vehicles and heat pumps.

Energy Supply

John McNally: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps (a) his Department and (b) Ofgem plan to take to ensure that distribution networks are prepared to meet additional demand from (i) high economic growth and (ii) rising rates of electrical vehicle take-up.

Claire Perry: Distribution Network Operators are investing up to £24.6bn over their current price control (2015-2023) on their networks, including in meeting additional demand. Ofgem have begun consideration of the next price control for the network companies beyond 2023, which will take into account economic growth and the increase in electric vehicles (EVs). There are flexibility mechanisms built into these price controls to enable network companies to respond to unexpected changes.In July 2017, Government launched its Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan, along with Ofgem, which enables new technologies to increase capacity and the energy system to manage new sources of demand more efficiently. As part of this, smart charging measures are included in the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act which means that Government can now set standards so all new EV chargepoints installed are smart enabled. This will provide benefits to consumers and reduce the demands on the networks.Finally, as outlined in the Road to Zero strategy, the Government launched the EV Energy Taskforce on 11 June. The taskforce will consider what further actions should be taken so that the energy system is prepared for the uptake of electric vehicles.

Energy Supply

John McNally: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps Ofgem are taking to reduce electricity losses in the transmission and distribution systems; and what assessment he has made of the effect of those losses on Scottish (a) businesses and (b) consumers.

John McNally: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential role of innovative, low resistance cables in helping to (a) reduce electrical losses and (b) deliver more electricity to where it is consumed.

Claire Perry: Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) and Transmission Owners have an overarching obligation to develop and maintain efficient, co-ordinated and economical systems. Ofgem has also placed specific licence obligations on them to ensure that losses are as low as reasonably practicable. Whilst Government and Ofgem are aware of potential approaches to minimising losses, including through the use of low resistance cables, network companies are not instructed exactly how to go about this. Instead, Ofgem sets incentives for network companies, including broader environmental incentives on losses and business carbon footprint. These incentives have encouraged the network companies to proactively manage losses on their networks to the extent to which this is possible. For example, it is now widespread practice across GB to replace ‘high-loss’ cables with newer ‘low-loss’ substitutes, where this is efficient. The DNOs are also undertaking a programme of replacing pre-1960s transformers with newer more efficient types. Neither Government nor Ofgem specifically records the effect of losses on Scottish consumers and businesses. However, as part of developing their business plans for future capital expenditure, Ofgem will require network companies (including the Scottish network companies) to take into account the lifetime costs including losses, when deciding between different equipment.

Natural Gas: Housing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland are not connected to the mains gas grid; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The table below shows the latest estimates of households not connected to the gas network by country of the UK. Please note that there is no definitive source for the number of households not on the gas grid, so BEIS estimates these figures by subtracting the number of domestic gas meters from the estimated number of households. NationNumber of households1Estimated number of households not connected to the gas network1%England23,229,0003,024,00013%Scotland2,452,000495,00020%Wales1,342,000225,00017%Northern Ireland730,0002497,000368%Total27,753,0004,241,00015%Source: (1) Subnational gas consumption 2016, BEIS, except for NI see footnote 3; (2) Table 401: Household projections, United Kingdom, 1961-2039, MHCLG 2016 estimate; (3) NI Utility Regulator Retail Market Monitoring Quarterly Transparency Report

Energy: Billing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland are on a Standard Variable Tariff for their electricity and gas supply; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The Department estimates that there are around 15 million households in the UK on standard variable tariffs.  ElectricityGasEngland & Wales13,000,00010,600,000Scotland1,400,0001,100,000Northern Ireland700,000200,000UK15,000,00012,000,000 Information is collected by Electricity PES (Public Electricity Suppliers) area, so data for England and Wales are not available separately. The above estimates based on survey data include households on standard pre-payment tariffs.

Energy: Prices

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland will be better off as a result of the Ofgem price cap on domestic energy bills announced on 6 September 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The price cap will protect around 11 million households in England, Scotland and Wales on standard variable tariffs (SVTs) in addition to around 5 million people already protected by the safeguard tariff. Of those SVT households that will be protected by the price cap, the Department estimates that around 1 million households are in Scotland and around 10 million in England & Wales. Energy policy is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland, where there are existing arrangements to cap certain prices in the market. Under Ofgem’s proposals those on SVTs will be better off, with some customers on the most expensive tariffs saving around £138 a year. These figures are based on Ofgem’s typical domestic consumption values of 3.1MWh per year of electricity and 12MWh per year of gas.

Coal Fired Power Stations

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential effect on consumers’ energy bills of the phasing out of unabated coal fired power stations in 2025; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: An estimate of impacts of the policy to end unabated coal electricity generation was made in November 2017 and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/671959/FINAL_updated_unabated_coal_Impact_Assessment_Jan_2018.pdf

Cement and Iron and Steel

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is aware of any way of making (a) steel and (b) cement without using coal as a heat source and in the chemical production process; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: Steel made via the electric arc furnace process does not require coal, as it melts steel scrap directly in the furnace.Full replacement of fossil fuels in cement manufacture is technically possible but there are barriers and significant investment would be needed. In 2016 the UK cement industry replaced 39% of its fuel demand with waste derived alternatives. The industry is working with Government to increase this further, through the joint Action Plan for the Industrial Decarbonisation and Energy Efficiency Roadmaps Programme published in October 2017.

Solar Power: Redundancy

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has been made of the cost to the public purse of redundancies as a result of proposals to close of the (a) feed-in and (b) export tariff for solar power.

Claire Perry: An Impact Assessment was published on 19 July alongside the consultation on the closure the Feed-in Tariff scheme. Information provided through the consultation will be used to provide an updated Impact Assessment to accompany the Government response in due course. The Impact Assessment and consultation can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/feed-in-tariffs-scheme.

Energy: Meters

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if all SMETS1 meters are now interoperable.

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when will all SMETS1 meters be fully interoperable.

Claire Perry: SMETS1 meters will become fully interoperable once they are enrolled into the dedicated national smart metering communications infrastructure, run by the Data and Communications Company (DCC). The enrolment of SMETS1 meters into the DCC will be completed by the end of 2020.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Syria: Chemical Weapons

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Prime Minister's statement of 16 April 2018 on Syria, Official Report columns 39-44, what the evidential basis is for the assertion that Russia and Syria delayed the access of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to Douma.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) notified Syria on 10 April of its intention to deploy its Fact-Finding Mission to Douma. The team arrived in Damascus on 14 April, following an invitation from Syria which was supported by Russia, but their deployment to Douma was delayed for a week until 21 April. The Director General of the OPCW reported that they had been prevented from deploying to Douma by Russia and Syria, who cited security concerns. Russia instead offered to bring witnesses to Damascus, but the OPCW rightly insisted on access to Douma itself, which was later granted.

Department of Health and Social Care

Social Services: Training

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the number of people (a) applying for and (b) taking up a place on the Step Up to Social Work programme; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Dinenage: Responsibility for the Social Work profession is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care who are responsible for social work with adults and Department for Education who are responsible for social work with children and families. The Departments share a common policy of increasing the quality of social workers through education and continuing professional development, and maintaining sufficient numbers of social workers. The Secretaries of State, Ministers and the Chief Social Workers for England meet regularly to discuss and align policy on social work and the departments have active programmes to ensure the effective recruitment, retention, training and development of the social work profession. The Step up to Social Work programme is fully funded by the Department of Education since 2010 and is specifically aimed at increasing the number of social workers who work with children and families. The Secretaries of State of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Education have not met specifically to discuss the Step up to Social Work programme. The Department of Education have told us that four cohorts have now completed the programme with just over 1100 social workers finishing. Cohort 5 started in January 2018 and cohort 6 is planned to start in 2020. For cohort 5, there were 4391 applications with 563 people starting. The Department of Health and Social Care does not have any further details on the number of applications.

Social Work: Higher Education

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support universities to recruit students to Social Work programmes; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Dinenage: Responsibility for the social work profession is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Department for Education (DfE) with a common policy of increasing the quality of social work education (and thereby social workers) and maintaining a sufficiency of supply of social workers. DHSC, on behalf of both Departments, provides funding for the social work bursary and for social work practice placements. DHSC sets the number of new bursaries available each academic year on an annual basis. There is no restriction on the number of students that Higher Education Institutes can recruit. In addition, DHSC set up and fund Think Ahead, a graduate training programme for mental health social work. DfE also operate the Step–Up to Social Work and Frontline programmes.

Restaurants and Take-away Food: Small Businesses

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on small businesses of proposed mandatory calorie counts on all restaurant and takeaway menus.

Steve Brine: We will be publishing an impact assessment alongside the consultation on introducing consistent calorie labelling for the out of home sector later this year. We will also take into account the views and concerns of smaller businesses as part of the consultation process and welcome suggestions on how to make the process easier for them.

Department of Health and Social Care: Odgers Berndtson

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department paid the company Odgers Berndtson for recruitment services in each of the last eight years.

Caroline Dinenage: Figures for expenditure by the Department on Odgers Berndtson for the last eight financial years are shown in the following table. This is expenditure under the data category of ‘Professional Services’, which does not identify specific tasks such as a recruitment process. Financial YearExpenditure on Odgers Berndtson (exclusive of VAT)2010/11£186,6452011/12£71,1792012/13£80,5882013/14£02014/15£42,5862015/16£02016/17£60,1272017/18£110,804

Humber, Coast and Vale Sustainability and Transformation Partnership: Public Appointments

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the remuneration is for the Chair of Humber, Coast and Vale Sustainability and Transformation Partnership.

Stephen Barclay: Humber, Coast and Vale currently combines the role of Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships leader and Chair in a single post. The post holder receives an annual remuneration of £125,000 for undertaking related work for 3-days per week.

Clinical Commissioning Groups: Complaints

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the complaints procedures are for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs); how CCGs are held accountable; and if he will make a statement.

Jackie Doyle-Price: A complaint may be made by a patient or anyone affected by the actions of the National Health Service in respect of any function provided or commissioned by them. The procedure for handling complaints about NHS bodies, including clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) is covered by the National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009. CCGs are accountable to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care through NHS England. A complaint may be made directly to the CCG or to NHS England but not to both. If a complainant is unhappy with any aspect of the response or handling of their complaint they have the right to refer it to the Parliamentary and Health Service Commissioner (also known as the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman), who in his role as Health Service Commissioner for England, investigates complaints about the NHS not resolved at local level. The Ombudsman also holds NHS organisations to account on how they manage complaints.

NHS 111: Staff

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many members of staff aged under 18 have been employed by NHS 111 in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Stephen Barclay: The information as requested is not held centrally.

NHS 111: Staff

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of NHS 111 staff are clinically trained.

Stephen Barclay: The requested information is not held centrally. More people calling NHS 111 are speaking to a clinician than ever before. The proportion of calls answered that received clinical input increased in July 2018 to a new high of 52.1%.

Sepsis

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases of sepsis there were in each region of England in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.

Caroline Dinenage: Data are not collected in the format requested. Cases of sepsis can only be identified where a hospital admission occurred; therefore collected figures exclude cases treated without the patient being admitted to hospital. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period. Data on finished admission episodes with a primary or secondary diagnosis of sepsis by government office region of residence years 2007-08 to 2016-17 is shown in the attached table. Sepsis is a devastating condition that we need to get better at spotting across the National Health Service. By raising awareness and improving clinical practice we will save lives in the fight against this horrible illness. Better awareness has led to more cases of sepsis being detected across all age groups. A new action plan was launched in September 2017 to ensure the NHS is on the highest possible alert to tackle this silent killer.



PQ171689 attached table
(Word Document, 26.43 KB)

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce rates of hospital-acquired infections.

Caroline Dinenage: Patient safety remains a priority for the Department. In 2015, the Department strengthened the Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infection and related guidance (The Code), linked to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to continue to encourage registered providers to adhere to a code to prevent and control the spread of infections in health-care settings. Under these, National Health Service providers and independent providers are required to have a surveillance programme and an audit programme in place, making information on the performance of hospitals, including rates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia, methicillin susceptible S. aureus bacteraemia, Escherichia coli bacteraemia, and Clostridium difficile infection available, allowing trends to be identified and targets to be put in place. The United Kingdom Government’s strategy to tackle antimicrobial resistance highlights the importance of good antibiotic stewardship and effective infection prevention and control. Public Health England, NHS Improvement, and NHS England are collaborating to support health systems to implement improvements across the health and social care sector.

Sepsis

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to help ensure that opportunities for diagnosis and intervention in sepsis are detected early.

Caroline Dinenage: We have made significant progress in improving clinical recognition, and diagnosis and timely treatment of sepsis since publication of the first Cross-System Sepsis Action Plan in 2015. Achievements include National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance and a national Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) measure for sepsis which is now one of the best performing CQUINs. In September 2017, NHS England published the second Cross-System Sepsis Action Plan which sets out further cross-system measures to support early diagnosis and timely treatment of sepsis in a range of settings. These include:- The revised National Early Warning Score (NEWS2), a tool that helps to identify deteriorating patients, including those at risk from sepsis, will be rolled out across all acute and ambulance trusts by the end of March 2019. Following this, work will continue to embed NEWS2 within trusts;- Publication of the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Improvement and Assessment Framework results from 2017/18 on the ‘My NHS’ website. The Framework shows how CCGs have been assessed for their approach to sepsis and encourages them to take further action to either sustain or improve their assessment rating; and- Continuing to ensure that NHS Choices is up to date with relevant information to help patients and their families to spot the signs of sepsis and offer advice on steps to take.

Diabetes

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the primary outcome results of the Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial.

Steve Brine: NHS England is aware of the literature that has been published to date in relation to the DiRECT Trial, and are of the view that the results of the trial suggest that very low calorie diets could potentially be highly impactful if it should prove possible to deliver the intervention at scale. At present, the duration of the effect of the intervention trialled (i.e. the duration of any period of remission) is unknown and NHS England has not yet seen a cost effectiveness analysis, or other economic data from the trial. It is therefore not yet possible to establish the overall effectiveness of the intervention at this time. Whilst waiting for the two year outcomes data to be published, NHS England is exploring opportunities to pilot these approaches at greater scale to further understand their potential.

Cancer: Surgery

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cancer related operations have been carried out at (a) Royal Lancaster Infirmary, (b) Furness General Hospital and (c) Westmorland General Hospital in each of the last ten years.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many chemotherapy treatments were undertaken at (a) Royal Lancaster Infirmary, (b) Furness General Hospital and (c) Westmorland General Hospital in each of the last ten years.

Steve Brine: Information on the number of cancer-related operations is not held centrally. The information on the number of chemotherapy treatments undertaken is not available in the format requested. A count of finished consultant episodes (FCE) data with a primary diagnosis of cancer, receiving a treatment of chemotherapy is provided for University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, between the years 2007-08 to 2016-17 and is attached. Nationally there has been a continuing rise in demand for cancer services, with urgent general practitioner referrals for cancer rising by over 70,000 compared to last year. Achieving the 62-day standard was a key objective in the Government’s mandate to NHS England for 2017-18 and this has been rolled forward into 2018-19. NHS England is investing this year in initiatives to recover and maintain the 62-day standard nationally, such as pathway coordinators and timed, standardised pathways. The National Health Service is committed to achieving the 62-day cancer waiting times standard in 2018/19, and to maintaining performance against the other cancer waiting times standards.



PQ172494,172495 attached document
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Childbirth

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many births were recorded at (a) Royal Lancaster Infirmary, (b) Furness General Hospital and (c) Westmorland General Hospital in each of the last ten years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Data relating to the number of births recorded at individual hospitals is not collected centrally. There is a count made of delivery episodes at each trust, however, delivery episodes reflect the number of deliveries rather than births. There can be multiple births within a single delivery episode. The following table shows a count of the delivery episodes recorded in the last 10 years at the trusts local to Royal Lancaster Infirmary, Furness General Hospital and Westmorland General Hospital.  Trust University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation TrustBlackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustLancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust2007-083,4106,2134,7582008-093,4356,1094,8862009-103,3912,9904,6752010-113,4792,9274,7812011-123,5343,0544,6882012-133,3573,0404,5942013-143,2012,9914,3872014-153,1063,1174,5562015-163,1172,9864,6172016-173,0592,9784,681

Nurses: Training

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the decline in the number of student nurse applications since 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Barclay: The Department is working with relevant bodies across health and education to monitor the effects of the healthcare funding reforms, including the impact on application numbers. There is still strong demand for nursing courses. Latest Universities and Colleges Admissions Service data for September 2018 show that there are still more applicants than places available for nursing courses. The Department is also working with its arm’s length bodies on a number of actions to increase recruitment and retention of the nursing workforce. NHS England, with the support of the Department and Health Education England (HEE), has launched a major advertising campaign, aimed at encouraging recruitment to the National Health Service, retaining the existing workforce, and promoting the possibility of a return to the workforce for those who have previously worked in the NHS. The campaign has a strong focus on nursing, and builds upon HEE’s #KnowAboutNursing campaign, which has been running since May of this year. We have also opened new work based learning routes into the nursing profession for those who may not be able to study full-time. The new Nursing Associate role and the Nurse Degree Apprenticeship will open routes into the registered nursing profession for thousands of people from all backgrounds and allow employers to grow their own workforce.We have agreed a new pay deal that will see around 1 million NHS workers benefit over three years. In addition, my Rt hon. Friend the member for Bromsgrove has announced there will be no restriction on the numbers of nurses who can be employed through the Tier 2 visa route – giving health and social care employers the ability to recruit more international nurses to provide outstanding patient care whenever and wherever required.

Nurses: Training

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to reintroduce bursaries for nursing degrees; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Barclay: The removal of bursaries and introduction of student loans for nursing degrees has increased the number of nursing degree places that are available. Latest Universities and Colleges Admissions Service data for September 2018 show that there are still more applicants than places available for nursing courses. As such we have no plans to reinstate a bursary cap on places, which would limit the number of places available.

Stem Cells: Donors

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to maximise stem cell donor registration.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department has provided more than £26 million to NHS Blood and Transplant and Anthony Nolan for stem cell donation since 2011. This funding has supported a number of improvements including: the establishment of a unified stem cell registry called the ‘Anthony Nolan and the NHS Stem Cell Registry’, the identification and recruitment of donors including from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, and the expansion of cord blood banks.

Epilepsy

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria is used to determine the referral of families to tertiary centres for the management of epilepsy.

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the level of compliance with NICE guidance for children and young people with epilepsy during the transition of care to adult services.

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the accessibility of (a) guidance and (b) information on ketogenic diet for patients with epilepsy; and if he will make a statement.

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of the ketogenic diet for young people with epilepsy that are cared for in their own home.

Steve Brine: No assessment has been made on the effectiveness of the implementation of a ketogenic diet for young people with epilepsy who are cared for in their own home. A ketogenic diet (high in fat and low in carbohydrates) may reduce seizures for some children whose epilepsy cannot be successfully managed with drugs. Information for the public on the use of ketogenic diets in the treatment of epilepsy is available on the NHS Choices website and is also provided by Epilepsy Action and the Epilepsy Society, the two leading charities for the condition in England. Information provided via NHS Choices can be found at the following link: www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Epilepsy/Pages/Treatment.aspx The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guideline, ‘The diagnosis and management of the epilepsies in adults and children in primary and secondary care’, published in 2012 and updated in 2018, sets out best practice for clinicians in the treatment of children with epilepsy. All children, young people and adults with epilepsy should have access via their specialist to a tertiary service when circumstances require. The NICE guideline states that if seizures are not controlled and/or there is diagnostic uncertainty or treatment failure, children, young people and adults should be referred to tertiary services soon for further assessment. The NICE guidance also makes clear that a named clinician should assume responsibility for the ongoing management of the young person with epilepsy during adolescence to ensure smooth transition of care to adult services. Whilst the Department does not directly assess compliance with NICE guidance, we expect commissioners to take it, and other examples of evidence based best practice, into account when planning and delivering services for local populations. The NICE guideline can be found at the following link: www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg137/resources/epilepsies-diagnosis-and-management-pdf-35109515407813

NHS: Data Protection

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his Answer of 24 July 2018 to Question 166138 on NHS: Data Protection, if he will make an assessment of the financial effect on the NHS of the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation.

Jackie Doyle-Price: There are no current plans to undertake an assessment of the financial effect implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may have on the National Health Service. However, the impact of the GDPR’s potential impact on general practitioner practices has been raised as part of the General Medical Services contract negotiations which are currently on-going. Negotiations are confidential and neither we, nor the General Practitioner Committee, comment on the content of negotiations as it may prejudice the outcome.

General Practitioners: Data Protection

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support the Government provided to GP surgeries to prepare for the introduction of the GeneralData Protection Regulation.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what additional resources he has provided to GP surgeries to manage the extra administrative burden since the introduction of General Data Protection Regulation.

Steve Brine: The implications of the General Data Protection Regulation on general practitioner practices have been raised with NHS England as part of the wider General Medical Services contract review discussions.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the cost to the public purse of the abolition of prescription charges.

Steve Brine: The Department has no plans to review prescription charges. In the financial year 2016/17, the latest data available, prescription charge income generated £554.9 million of revenue for the National Health Service which played a key role in contributing to the cost of providing services.

Department of Health and Social Care: Public Appointments

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the socio-economic background of people appointed to senior positions in his Department in the last five years.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department has not gathered data beyond that of the Civil Service Senior Civil Servant survey. The Civil Service is currently looking at the best way to start implementing the measures published earlier in June across Government Departments, to better understand the background of people appointed in senior positions. The Government is committed to social mobility, and we are committed to creating an organisation in which everybody can thrive.

NHS: Telephone Services

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to minimise the use of automated telephone messages by (a) the NHS and (b) general practices.

Stephen Barclay: Many National Health Service organisations, including general practices, use automated telephone messages as a way of reminding patients about their upcoming appointments. This can provide improved access to care for patients in a way that makes best use of clinicians’ time while avoiding missed appointments and their associated costs. We would expect NHS organisations to respond to feedback to ensure they use automated messages as effectively as possible and if patients wish to opt out of such reminders, they may contact their local NHS provider to request this.

Fire Prevention: Hospitals

Karen Lee: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to tackle the fire risk to (a) vulnerable adults and (b) young children in hospitals.

Stephen Barclay: Guidance on fire safety, including patients with specific dependencies such as vulnerable adults and young children, is provided to National Health Service organisations in the Health Technical Memorandum 05 publications, generally referred to as Firecode. All Firecode guidance will be reviewed in the light of the recommendations of the Grenfell Inquiry.

Health Services: Public Lavatories

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made in increasing (a) the number of and (b) access to Changing Places toilets in hospitals and other health settings.

Caroline Dinenage: We recognise that the number of Changing Places toilets in hospitals and healthcare settings is limited at present. Several actions are underway to improve provision and access to these facilities on the National Health Service estate. Access to Changing Places has been included as an indicator in the Learning Disability Improvement Standards, published in June 2018 by NHS Improvement, which will be used to measure how well trusts support people with a learning disability. The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in reviewing the Approved Document Part M guidance in relation to Building Regulations, which considers accessibility with a view to increasing provision of Changing Places. The Department is considering what other actions may be taken to improve provision and availability of Changing Places toilets across the NHS estate.

Hospitals: Vacancies

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS hospitals operate at a staff vacancy rate of 11 per cent or higher in (a) Harlow, (b) Essex, (c) East of England and (d) England.

Stephen Barclay: The information is not held in the format requested. Since April 2017, NHS Improvement collects vacancy rates of medical staff from individual National Health Service providers and publishes them as part of its ‘Quarterly performance of the NHS provider sector’ report. This data goes to trust level, but not specifically to hospital level.

Hearing Aids

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been supplied with NHS-funded hearing aids in each clinical commissioning group area in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much was spent on audiology services (a) nationally and (b) by each clinical commissioning group in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the projected spend on audiology services is (a) this year and (b) next year, broken down (i) nationally and (ii) by clinical commissioning group.

Caroline Dinenage: The information requested on the number of people supplied with National Health Services-funded hearing aids is not collated centrally. The requested information for spend on audiology services by each clinical commissioning group (CCG) is not collected centrally. Data on national spend is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table. Total spend on audiology services in £ million 2012-132013-142014-152015-162016-17Admitted Patient Care25.8124.5161.8163.5152.5Outpatient Attendances21.230.824.232.036.5Community Health Services208.5172.9193.5201.0196.2Total255.5328.2379.5396.5385.2Source: https://improvement.nhs.uk/resources/reference-costs/ The information requested on projected spend on audiology services is not collected centrally. CCGs are responsible for commissioning audiology services. The Commissioning Services for People with Hearing Loss framework will help CCGs to deliver on their responsibility to commission high quality, responsive hearing services by establishing what good commissioning looks like.

Electronic Cigarettes

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’s proposal for a worldwide ban on advertising, promoting and sponsoring e-cigarettes on the Government’s tobacco control plan; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what representations he has received on his Department's participation in the 8th Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in October 2018.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's priorities are for the Eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to be held in October 2018.

Steve Brine: The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is not proposing a worldwide ban on advertising, promoting and sponsoring of e-cigarettes. The Government supports proportionate regulation of e-cigarettes to ensure non-smokers and children are protected from accessing these products, and has implemented the European Union Tobacco Products Directive which ensures such proportionate regulation. A search of the Department’s Ministerial correspondence database has identified two items of correspondence received in the last six months about his Department's participation in the 8th Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the WHO FCTC in October 2018. This figure represents correspondence received by the Department’s Ministerial correspondence unit only. The Department has also answered five Parliamentary Questions related to CoP in the last six months. As a global leader on tobacco control, the Department will engage constructively at the CoP, working closely with fellow members of the European Union and with other partners to continue to support measures proposed to reduce global harms from tobacco and ensure WHO FCTC Secretariat work proposals offer value for money.

Department of Health and Social Care: Sick Leave

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of days of sick leave taken by staff in his Department for mental health reasons in each year since 2010.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department information systems record sickness absence relating to “mental health disorders”, but not for “mental health reasons”. Mental health disorders can include disorders such as stress, anxiety, depression and long term mental illness. The following table shows the broader category of how many days have been lost in the Department due to sickness absence relating to mental health disorders since 2010. Year20102011201220132014201520162017Days Lost2,151.41,457.91,932.81,510.92,153.22,193.91,851.81,832.0

Department for International Development

Department for International Development: Public Appointments

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what information her Department holds on the socio-economic background of people appointed to senior positions in her Department in the last five years.

Alistair Burt: The Department for International Development collects data on the four key socio-economic metrics set across Government on a voluntary basis. These are listed below along with the percentage of senior civil servants who had recorded this information at 30 June 2018. The table below confirms these measures and the percentage of Senior Civil Servants in DFID who have recorded this information to date. MeasurePercentage of DFID SCS who have provided informationType of school attended between the age of 11 and 1640%Eligibility for free school meals (if a person left school after 1980);36%Highest qualification achieved by a person’s parents by the time they were 1840%The work the main earner in the household did when the person was 1441%

Africa: Think Tanks

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the number of think tanks located in each African country it operates in.

Alistair Burt: DFID does not hold estimates for the total number of think tanks located in each African country it operates in. DFID’s funding via the Think Tank Initiative (TTI) supports 18 think tanks in eight countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Department for International Development: Sick Leave

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the number of days of sick leave taken by staff in her Department for mental health reasons in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt: The table below confirms the number of days recorded as sickness absence in DFID relating to mental health from 2014 to 2017. YearDays Lost20141639201516762016174420171963  Information prior to 2014 would only be available at disproportionate cost. DFID is committed to reducing sickness absence and we have policies in place to ensure that employees have the right care and support to help prevent mental illness and support employees who are affected, for example our Employee Assistance Programme. DFID have had awareness campaigns, sharing personal stories and having an SCS champion for health and disability, which has helped change the culture and mind-sets across the department. Civil Service sickness absence data includes absence relating to mental health disorders, but not specifically to stress. Mental health disorders include stress, but also a range of other disorders such as anxiety, depression and long term mental illness.

Department for Education

Single Sex Education

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students in (a) Coventry South constituency, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England attend single-sex secondary schools.

Nick Gibb: Information on schools and pupils, is published in the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release, found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2018.

Schools: Assessments

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of examination marking for (a) GCSEs, (b) BTECs and (c) A-Levels in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write directly to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Academies: Complaints

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many complaints have been made to the Education Funding Agency relating to (a) academies and (b) free schools in the last three years; and what proportion of such complaints have been upheld.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and its predecessor body, the Education Funding Agency, handles complaints about open academies and free schools. The ESFA cannot change the decision of an academy or free school about a complaint but will review whether the academy or free school considered the complaint properly, in line with its procedures. Where the ESFA identify a concern, they will ask the academy or free school to reinvestigate the complaint or change its procedures. From 11 September 2015 to 10 September 2018, the ESFA received 6886 complaints about academies and 347 complaints about free schools. Currently the ESFA's systems require the manual interrogation of records in order to identify the number of upheld complaints. The ESFA were able to quickly refer many of these complaints back to the complainant, as they had not exhausted fully the academy’s complaint procedures. This is required before the ESFA can become involved. Published guidance on the ESFA’s remit on handling academy and free school complaints is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/complain-about-an-academy.

Academies: Assets

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the value is of the total assets held by (a) academies and (b) free schools; and what proportion of such assets were formerly held by public bodies.

Nadhim Zahawi: For academy schools, including free schools, we collect information on the value of assets at Trust level. We therefore do not separately identify the value of assets for individual free schools. We do not collect data on the proportion of assets previously held by public bodies.In 2015/16, the total value of gross assets held by the academy sector in England was £52.7 billion. The total value of net assets held by the sector was £43.5 billion, with the difference comprising liabilities of £9.2 billion (primarily the sector’s pension deficit which was £7.4 billion).Figures for the 2016/17 academic year, including total assets for the academies sector in England, are due to be published in the Academy Schools Sector (in England) Consolidated Annual Report and Accounts in October 2018.

Members: Correspondence

Karen Lee: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills plans to respond to the letter of 9 July 2018 from the hon. Member for Lincoln on apprenticeships.

Anne Milton: A response to the letter was sent to the hon. Member for Lincoln on 11 September 2018.

Pupils: Sanitary Protection

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of school days missed by girls due to being unable to afford sanitary products.

Nadhim Zahawi: Holding answer received on 13 September 2018



In March 2018, the department produced additional analysis of its absence statistics which show that while absence rates amongst girls do increase after a certain age, there is no evidence to suggest that this is related to pupils being disadvantaged. This suggests period poverty does not have a significant, nation-wide impact on attendance. The department would like to find out more information on these issues so has included questions relating to period poverty in the 2018 surveys for pupils and senior school leaders. The government has awarded more than £1.6 million from the £15 million Tampon Tax Fund to Brook Young People, who will educate girls about menstruation and hand out pre-paid cards allowing girls and young women in need to access free sanitary products.

Apprentices

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of apprenticeship starts since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in April 2017.

Nadhim Zahawi: From May 2017 to the end of April 2018, there were 338,500 apprenticeship starts. Rigorous apprenticeship standards accounted for just over 40 per cent of all starts reported in the first three quarters of the 2017/18 academic year, compared to just 2.5 per cent in the same reporting period in 2016/17. These new standards are driven by employers to provide high quality training, which will lead to increased productivity at every level and equip apprentices with the skills they need to progress in their careers.During the first three quarters of 2017/18, the fall in starts has been greatest at level 2, whilst we have seen the numbers of starts at higher levels (4 and above) rise by nearly 13 per cent. This is good news; it shows a healthier balance across apprenticeships at all levels, helping people progress to higher skills. Please note, that the figures reported in the 2017/18 academic year are based on provisional in-year data and are subject to change until the final data is reported in November 2018.

Service Industries: T-levels

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress his Department has made on the introduction of T-Levels in the hospitality sector.

Nadhim Zahawi: We recently announced appointments to a further nine employer-led T level panels, including the catering panel, who will begin work on developing the outline content for T levels in this area. This is key to our approach – putting employers at the heart of T level development to specify the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to succeed in their industries.Hospitality occupations also fall within the Catering and Hospitality technical education route. The hospitality pathway within this route will be delivered via apprenticeships only and we do not intend to develop T levels for this area.Occupational maps define the routes and pathways, and are owned by the Institute for Apprenticeships, who carried out a consultation on the maps earlier this year. Their response to the consultation can be found at: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/about/occupational-maps/.

Service Industries: Apprentices

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to promote apprenticeship opportunities in the catering and hospitality sector.

Nadhim Zahawi: Apprenticeship standards are now available across a broad range of sectors including in hospitality and catering. There are 10 standards available, including Hospitality Manager, Chef De Partie and Maritime Caterer.The new apprenticeship standards across all levels are being designed and driven by industry; creating higher quality training that will lead to a more productive economy and give employers, like those in the hospitality and catering sector, the skills they need to grow and succeed.We are promoting apprenticeships opportunities through our Get In Go Far marketing campaign. The latest campaign phase launched on 13 August and coincided with August's exam results period when young people are looking at the options available to them after school or college. The campaign aims to help increase the number of vacancies created by employers and encourage young people to choose an apprenticeship as a high quality career route – signposting them to new vacancies on offer.

Ministry of Justice

Berwyn Prison

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he made an assessment of the potential merits of the recommendations of the Report of the Zahid Mubarek inquiry, published in June 2006, when designing HMP Berwyn.

Rory Stewart: Following the report of the Zahid Mubarek inquiry, all new cells were fitted with fixed furniture. HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Berwyn has been designed to hold prisoners securely in uncrowded accommodation. Therefore, Berwyn accommodates its population across a mix of single and double occupancy cells. All prisoners on arrival are risk assessed for their suitability to share a cell and allocated accordingly.

Zahid Mubarek Inquiry

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has plans to implement the recommendations of the Report of the Zahid Mubarek inquiry, published in June 2006.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what representations his Department has received from The Honourable Mr Justice Keith on the recommendations of the Report of the Zahid Mubarek inquiry, published in June 2006.

Rory Stewart: 71 of the 88 recommendations made in the report of the Zahid Mubarek inquiry were implemented in full.Of the remaining recommendations, 15 were either partially implemented or superseded by other developments. Two were rejected at the time of implementation. Action to improve prison safety and security continues alongside reforms to overhaul the system to focus on the rehabilitation of offenders. We are tackling the supply and demand of drugs, drones and phones, which drive prison violence and undermine safety.We are redoubling our efforts to address the record levels of self-harm. We have taken immediate action to strengthen the frontline. We have passed our target to recruit 2,500 extra prison officers, seven months ahead of schedule. Over 3,100 new staff are in post. This will allow us to implement the key worker role, allowing staff dedicated time to provide support to individual prisoners, which will help us deal with emerging threats and to improve safety.We are not aware of any recent representations from Mr Justice Keith.

Berwyn Prison

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timeframe is for HMP Berwyn to operate at full capacity.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taken to ensure that HMP Berwyn operates at full capacity.

Rory Stewart: HMP Berwyn in Wrexham, North Wales opened on 27 February 2017, and when fully operational, will create 2,106 modern and efficient prison places holding category C men. The latest data for Berwyn (published July 2018) shows a population of 1,136 and is currently ramping up its population as part of its safe mobilisation. As with any new prison, there has been a deliberate phased population increase at Berwyn since opening which continues to rise month on month.

Berwyn Prison

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what contingency plans his Department has made in the event that HMP Berwyn does not operate at full capacity.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of converting HMP Berwyn to a single-occupancy cell prison in the event that the prison not reach full capacity.

Rory Stewart: As with any new prison, there has been a deliberate phased population increase at Berwyn since opening which continues to rise month on month.No assessment has been made of the potential merits of converting HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Berwyn to a single-occupancy cell prison as we continue to plan on the basis that the establishment will hold 2,106 prisoners in a combination of non-crowded single and double occupancy cells.Following careful risk assessment, there are benefits to some prisoners sharing cells for those who may be on the prisoner Listener Scheme or those who find it reduces stress levels or feelings of isolation.

Berwyn Prison

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) double cells and (b) single cells were occupied at HMP Berwyn at 31 July 2018.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many unoccupied single cells there were HMP Berwyn at 31 July 2018.

Rory Stewart: On Friday 27 July 2018 (the closest date to 31 July for which data is available), 533 double cells and 407 single cells were occupied at HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Berwyn. On the same day there were 163 unoccupied single cells in the prison. Since opening Berwyn has been increasing its capacity each week as staffing levels and regime have allowed in order to maintain stability. As at the 27 July the prison’s operational capacity was 1,195 places which was just under 60% of its full capacity of 2,106. The figure of 163 unoccupied cells will therefore include some cells that are currently not available. As with any new prison, there has been a deliberate phased population increase at Berwyn since opening which continues to rise month on month.

Berwyn Prison

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether it is the policy of HMP Berwyn to require inmates to share cells only in the event that a single cell is unavailable.

Rory Stewart: At HMP Berwyn, all prisoners upon arrival are risk assessed for their suitability to share cell and allocated accordingly. When required, risk assessments will be reviewed appropriately. Subject to the risk assessment, some residents choose to cell share for the duration of their time in custody.

Berwyn Prison

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what purposeful activities have been made available to inmates at HMP Berwyn since February 2017.

Rory Stewart: The following areas/provision of purposeful activity have been implemented between February 2017 and the present day within HMP Berwyn. These activities have developed alongside the ramp up of residents into HMP Berwyn and availability will continue to increase as the population grows. Core Provision:Key WorkerLibrary (Wrexham Council)- General Provision- Story Book DadsChaplaincy- Religious Services and teaching- Victim awareness course (Sycamore Tree)- Poetry workshopWellbeing events (ad hoc)Health and Social Care Groups (BCUHB Provision)Community Council activitiesCommunity Association Learning and Skills:Education (Novus Cambria Contracted Provision)- Essential Skills Wales- Vocational Training in Horticulture- Digital and Higher Education- Enrichment and Vocational Arts- Settlement and Resettlement- Embedded learning models sit across a number of areas throughout the prisonPhysical Education- Recreational- Educational Work:Kitchens- Main Kitchen- Custodial CafeCommunity workers- Cleaners- Canteen (servery) workersMentor roles (not exhaustive)- Digital Support/Champions- Induction- Healthcare/Healthy Living- Regime/Activities- Psychology- OMU/VR/Equality RepresentativesGrounds MaintenanceWaste ManagementBerwyn Prison Industries- Woodwork- Assemblies incl. locally contracted services through PSPICommercial Prison Industries- DHL Workshop (DHL Contracted Provision)- LMB Workshop (Interserve Contracted provision)- Census Data Workshop (Interserve Contracted provision)- Ink2Work Workshop (Interserve Contracted provision) Reducing Re-offending/Resettlement:Offending Behaviour Programme suite of Interventions- Thinking Skills Programme- Resolve- Kiazen – IPVOne to One Psychology Activity- Support- Specialist Assessment- InterventionTimewise – digital delivery through Uni-LinkCRC Resettlement Support- Release planning- Risk Management- Pathway support, for example Accommodation, Finance Benefit and DebtRelease on Temporary Licence opportunitiesDWP Employment and Benefit Support Enrichment: Community led events- Generic across all communities- Themed community activities; Veterans, Older Community, FamiliesWider Prison led activities (not exhaustive)- Governors Running Club- Open Mic Nights- Chess Club- Evening Distance Learning We are committed to creating a system in which the prisoners committed to change are set on a path to employment, giving them the chances they need to turn their lives around for good.

Berwyn Prison: Staff

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the number of staff employed at each pay band at HMP Berwyn since February 2017.

Rory Stewart: The number of staff employed at each HMPPS pay band in Berwyn since March 2017 is shown in the table below: Berwyn Prison Staff by HMPPS Pay Bands 31/03/2017 to 30/06/2018   (Full time equivalent)HMPPS Bands31/03/201730/06/201730/09/201731/12/201731/03/201830/06/2018Band 2656469698280Band 3248320385403407429Band 4324142394150Band 5414455494948Band 6444445Band 7577788Band 81212131199Band 9222221Band 10222111Senior Civil Servant (Band 1)111111NPS Band 211111 NPS Band 4122212Grand Total414500583589605634 Notes: As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate.

Prisons

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2018 to Question 167333 on Prisons, what criteria his Department will use to classify existing prison accommodation that is least fit for purpose.

Rory Stewart: Through the Government’s Prison Estate Transformation Programme we are getting the basics right by building decent prisons to improve rehabilitation and create safe and secure environments for staff and offenders. The department is committed to delivering up to 10,000 modern prison places providing the physical conditions for Governors to achieve better educational, training and rehabilitative outcomes.There are a variety of factors that inform decisions to classify prison accommodation as being unfit for purpose. These include physical condition, age, cost of maintenance and/or operation, strategic fit with demand and needs of the prisoner population, rehabilitative suitability, access to services and the number of hours a prisoner would spend in their cell.No further decisions have been made about future prison closures beyond those which have already been announced.

Treasury

Housing: Government Assistance

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to help people move on from their first property and move up the housing ladder.

Mel Stride: At Autumn Statement 2014, the Government reformed SDLT on residential properties, cutting the tax for 98% of people who pay it, unless they are purchasing additional property. These changes benefit those moving up the housing ladder Since 2010, the Government has delivered 1.1 million additional homes in England, including over 375,000 affordable homes. At Autumn Budget 2017, the Government announced that it will invest an additional £15.3 billion in housing over the next five years, bringing the total financial support over this period to at least £44 billion.

Married People: Tax Allowances

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to increase the marriage allowance.

Mel Stride: Consistent increases by this government to the personal allowance have also increased the Marriage Allowance, as it is linked. The personal allowance increase announced at Autumn Budget means that in 2018-19, an individual will be able to transfer £1,190 to a partner, compared to £1,060 in 2015-16. This means that in 2018-19 the Marriage Allowance is worth £238 per year, or £900 if backdated up to 4 years. This government is showing continuing commitment to the Marriage Allowance, and announced at Autumn Budget 2017 an extension to allow claims on behalf of deceased partners.

Public Houses: Non-domestic Rates

Steve McCabe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending Business Rate Relief for pubs after the 2018-19 tax year.

Robert Jenrick: The government remains clear on its support for pubs, which are a vital part of local communities. Pubs are benefiting from wider action on alcohol duty and business rates. Autumn Budget 2017 announced a freeze to all alcohol duties, including beer duty. Cuts to alcohol taxes since 2013 mean the average tax on a typical pint of beer is estimated to be 12p lower than it otherwise would have been. Pubs are also benefiting from recent cuts to business rates worth over £10 billion by 2023. All taxes are kept under review. Future decisions on business rates will be taken as part of the normal Budget process.

Beer: Excise Duties

Mike Hill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to reduce beer duty.

Robert Jenrick: The government keeps all taxes under review as part of the Budget process, and we will continue to evaluate all alcohol duties, including beer duty, to ensure they are fair and efficient. This government remains clear in its support for consumers, pubs and breweries, and we have taken action to this end – meaning that the price of a pint of beer is 12p is lower than it otherwise would have been since 2013/14. However, we cannot ignore the cost to the Exchequer of successive freezes – equal to over £4 billion since 2013/14. Any assessment of the merits of further freezes or cuts needs to consider the resulting reduction in funds available for vital public services.

Public Houses

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made of an assessment of the potential merits of launching a consultation into the long-term viability of the pub industry.

Robert Jenrick: The government is committed to ensuring the long-term viability of the pub industry. At Autumn Budget 2017 we continued the £1,000 business rate discount for small and medium pubs in 2018/19, and pubs are benefitting from wider reforms and reductions to business rates – which will provide over £10 billion in support by 2023. We will continue to evaluate how best to support local pubs as part of the Budget process.

Children: Day Care

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many parents currently benefit from tax-free childcare; and how many parents were projected to benefit at this stage of the roll-out in the March 2014 forecast.

Elizabeth Truss: Over 92, 000 families have used their childcare accounts by early September 2018, to pay their childcare provider. The Tax-Free Childcare service opened in April 2017; 2014 forecasts are based on a different roll-out profile and so it is not robust to compare the two.

Food: Manufacturing Industries

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland administration on support for the food and drink manufacturing sector.

Elizabeth Truss: Treasury Ministers and officials have regular discussions with all of the devolved administrations on matters of importance to the economy across the UK. The government recognises that the UK food and drink industry is a success story – generating £22bn exports in 2017. To build on this success, the government has set up the Food and Drink Sector Council, a partnership with industry to support productivity growth throughout the supply chain. To support the drinks industry, the government also froze beer duty at Autumn Budget 2017, meaning that the price of a pint of beer is 2p cheaper than it otherwise would have been.

Nurses: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health in Northern Ireland on the provision of additional funding for NHS nurses in Northern Ireland.

Elizabeth Truss: The Prime Minister announced additional funding of over £20 billion for the NHS starting in 2019-20. This is expected to be worth over £700m per annum for the Northern Ireland Executive by 2023-24. Final Barnett consequentials will be confirmed in due course as per the processes set out in the Statement of Funding Policy. The Financial Annex to the Confidence and Supply Agreement also committed £350m to the Northern Ireland Executive to manage immediate pressures in health and education, health transformation and mental health.

Diesel Fuel: Prices

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the cost of diesel fuel.

Robert Jenrick: The cost of diesel is linked to wholesale costs and the global oil price. To support households and businesses, the government has frozen fuel duty for eight successive years. By April 2019, these freezes will have saved the average car driver £850 compared to the pre-2010 escalator. However, freezes since 2011 have meant the Exchequer has not collected around £46 billion in revenues through to 2018-19, and a further £38 billion will be foregone over the Budget forecast period as a result of these previously announced freezes.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Devolution: Cheshire

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on devolution in the Cheshire West and Chester local authority area.

Jake Berry: The Government’s manifesto committed to providing clarity for areas across England on what devolution means for different administrations. We are looking at how to design a devolution framework that provides this for local areas and intend to set out our approach in the Autumn.As part of our work with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to develop Local Industrial Strategies, we are now working with the Cheshire and Warrington LEP as one of the next ‘wave’ of places developing ambitious proposals to drive growth across the region.

Housing: Fire Prevention

Karen Lee: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the fire regulatory framework in ensuring fires do not spread beyond the room of origin in (a) high-rise flats, (b) medium-rise flats, (c) low-rise flats, (d) houses and (e) bungalows.

Kit Malthouse: Last year, the Government commissioned Dame Judith Hackitt to carry out an Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety. We are considering Dame Judith’s recommendations for strengthening the system and will set out plans to take them forward in the autumn.Separately, we have consulted on banning combustible materials for use in the external wall systems of high rise residential buildings and on restricting the use of assessments in lieu of tests and are analysing the responses to these consultations.We are also consulting on a clarified version of the Building Regulations fire safety guidance and have announced that in the autumn we will publish a call for evidence to inform a technical review of the provisions in the guidance.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Sick Leave

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of days of sick leave taken by staff in his Department for mental health reasons in each year since 2010.

Jake Berry: The number of days sick leave taken by staff for absences related to mental health in this department in each calendar year since 2010 is outlined below. These figures are based on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) definition of mental health related absence. 12 month period endingWorking Days Lost to Mental HealthStaff Taking Mental Health Absence% of staff taking Mental Health AbsenceDec-102647.01164.4%Dec-112543.01094.0%Dec-122807.0924.3%Dec-132667.01045.2%Dec-142237.0984.8%Dec-153675.01135.3%Dec-163408.01024.9%Dec-172434.0944.2%

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Housing

Kirstene Hair: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will carry out a review of whether there is sufficient and quality accommodation available to service personnel on the defence estates.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 30 July 2018 to Question 166515, what estimate she has made of the proportion of universal credit claims closed and not paid that relate to claimants with disabilities or long-term health conditions.

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 30 July 2018 to Question 166515, what steps she is taking to reduce the proportion of claims closed and not paid when managed migration commences.

Alok Sharma: Information relating to claims closed and not paid that relate to claimants with disabilities or long-term health conditions is not available.We are working closely with stakeholders and other parties to design the best possible process for the migration of our customers to Universal Credit. The draft Regulations have been out for consultation with the Social Security Advisory Committee and we look forward to their detailed advice which we will consider alongside all the other stakeholder contributions we receive. The regulations will come before Parliament in the autumn, and during 2019 we will test and refine our processes on a small scale to ensure they are working well before we take on larger volumes from 2020 onwards, and complete the process in 2023.Our focus will be on safeguarding claimants and ensuring a smooth transition with uninterrupted support. We plan to have a comprehensive and well-supported preparation period for claimants. This will include a variety of communication formats, including face to face, internet and postal notification, to ensure claimants are aware of the managed migration process. There is flexibility to extend that period if necessary; and a process to ensure that, before the existing benefits are stopped, our staff will check for evidence of complex needs or vulnerability or disability and act accordingly to support the claimant. Additionally, if a claimant misses their deadline to claim there are provisions in the draft Regulations that will allow DWP to back-date their claim.

Maternity Allowance: Self-Employed

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the provision of maternity allowance for self-employed people.

Justin Tomlinson: Maternity Allowance is paid by the Department to eligible self-employed and employed women who are not entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay. The standard rates of payment are reviewed annually during the uprating of social security benefits.

Housing Benefit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average weekly charge per household was in (a) Birkenhead constituency, (b) Liverpool City Region and (c) the UK of the under-occupation penalty in the last 12 months.

Justin Tomlinson: Figures on average weekly spare room subsidy deductions in Great Britain, are publically available through the DWP Stat-Xplore website. The data can be broken down by parliamentary constituency and local authority, including into groups of local authorities such as Liverpool City Region, to provide all of the figures required. Stat-Xplore website:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml Guidance for users is available at:https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html  Information for Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Department for Communities. Northern Ireland statistics can be found at:https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/topics/benefits-statistics

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Public Appointments

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the socio-economic background of people appointed to senior positions in his Department in the last five years.

George Eustice: We do not currently collect socio-economic background data of employees at any grade. The Civil Service is currently looking at the best way to start implementing the recommendations on measuring socio-economic background published in June by the Cabinet Office, across Government Departments, to better understand the background of people appointed in senior positions. The publication can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/socio-economic-background The Government is committed to social mobility, and we are committed to creating an organisation in which everybody can thrive. We will work with Cabinet Office to implement their recommendations.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many visits Natural England make to landholdings in cull zones to ensure that reasonable biosecurity controls are being applied as required under the terms of badger cull licences; and how many landholders have not met those biosecurity standards in each year for which information is available.

George Eustice: Natural England (NE) visits 5% of randomly selected cattle-keeping landholders within each Year 1 application area to sense-check biosecurity practices on the ground. These visits are supported by data available from visits conducted by the Animal and Plant Heath Agency (APHA). For 2018 Year 1 areas, between 30-55% of participants had been subject to an APHA visit in response to Bovine TB breakdowns from 2015 to early 2018. Disease control recommendations are provided to cattle-keepers based on measures that are practicable, proportionate and appropriate for the particular circumstances; having regard to the Bovine TB Biosecurity Five-Point Plan. These recommendations are categorised into ‘Advisory’ or ‘Required’. Advisory recommendations can cover a number of aspects of the disease risk on a farm and are reflective of the discussion held with the cattle-keeper regarding ways of minimising this risk. For example, recommendations might cover future options to reduce disease risk should a cattle keeper be able to invest in infrastructure within the yard. As such, a high number of Advisory recommendations does not necessarily indicate that cattle keepers are not demonstrating that reasonable biosecurity measures are in place. ‘Required’ recommendations are provided for situations where badgers are presenting an immediate risk of disease spread to cattle and the resolution measure is practicable, proportionate and appropriate for the particular circumstances. An example of such a measure is securing feed stores to prevent them being accessible to badgers overnight. Should a concerning biosecurity issue be identified during the 5% visits, NE would conduct additional visits to determine whether the issue was more widespread throughout the area and act accordingly. A summary of the NE biosecurity visits and resulting recommendations from 2015 to 2018 is provided in the table below:  YearNumber of VisitsNumber of ‘Advisory’ recommendationsNumber of ‘Required’ recommendations20153669020161333403201796187220181232761

Food

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to minimise the proportion of household income that is spent on food after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: The Government does not set retail food prices or comment on the day-to-day commercial decisions made by companies. We work closely with industry to promote transparency for consumers, and internationally to promote open, global markets. The UK sources food from a diverse range of countries, in addition to a strong domestic production base. This will not change when we leave the EU. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Living Costs and Food Survey includes questions on household spend on food, including that of the lowest 20% income households. The most recent data has shown that the amount that the lowest 20% income households spend on food has fallen to 14.3% in 2016/17 compared with 16% in 2015 (Source Family Spending). These statistics show that it is important to look at all the factors which have an impact on household income such as transport, housing and energy costs. This Government, through the Department for Work and Pensions is committed to providing a strong safety net of support through the welfare system for disadvantaged families and their children. This includes hardship payments, short term benefit advances, budgeting advances and Social Fund budgeting loans. There is a commitment to spend over £95 billion on working age welfare benefits supporting people out of work or on a low income.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Sick Leave

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of days of sick leave taken by staff in his Department for mental health reasons in each year since 2010.

George Eustice: The total number of days of absence taken by permanent payroll staff in the Core Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs since 2010, for mental health reasons, is shown in the table below: YearNumber of Days of Mental Health Absence2010-201129452011-201218802012-201321742013-201417872014-201516082015-201626042016-201714582017-20182193

Wales Office

Wales Office: Sick Leave

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what estimate he has made of the number of days of sick leave taken by staff in his Department for mental health reasons in each year since 2010.

Mims Davies: The number of sick leave days taken by staff due to mental health reasons at the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales for which data is available, is set out below: Financial year Number of days lost2011/122482012/132112013/1402014/1502015/16562016/17762017/189  The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales is not an employer in its own right; our staff are employed under Ministry of Justice contracts. We therefore comply with the Ministry of Justice’s attendance management policy to ensure that staff’s wellbeing is maintained and to provide the necessary support so that staff who are absent due to sickness (including mental health related reasons) are enabled to return to work at the earliest possible opportunity.

Department for International Trade

Overseas Trade: Israel

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that the benefits accrued by the UK in trade liberalisation between the EU and Israel are not lost when the UK leaves the EU.

George Hollingbery: As we leave the European Union, we are seeking to replicate our existing EU free trade agreements and other EU preferential arrangements, to ensure continuity in our trade and investment relationships with third countries.The Prime Minister and Israeli Prime Minister established a joint trade working group in February 2017. In March 2017, my noble friend, the then Minister of State for Trade Policy (Lord Price CVO), visited Israel to chair the first meeting of the working group, which is continuing to make positive progress towards ensuring a smooth transition.Securing continuity will be a strong foundation to build upon our already successful trading relationships after we leave the EU, and we are making good progress.

Israel: Overseas Trade

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps his Department is taking to achieve future trade liberalisation between Israel and the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

George Hollingbery: As we leave the European Union, we are seeking to replicate our existing EU free trade agreements and other EU preferential arrangements, to ensure continuity in our trade and investment relationships with third countries.The Prime Minister and Israeli Prime Minister established a joint trade working group in February 2017. In March 2017, my noble friend, the then Minister of State for Trade Policy (Lord Price CVO), visited Israel to chair the first meeting of the working group, which is continuing to make positive progress towards ensuring a smooth transition.Securing continuity will be a strong foundation to build upon our already successful trading relationships after we leave the EU, and we are making good progress.

Trade Agreements: Conditions of Employment

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to his oral contribution of 16 July 2018, Official Report columns 41-52, if he will consult rights organisations in countries with which the UK seeks new trade agreements.

George Hollingbery: I refer the hon. Member for Canterbury to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown on 11 September 2018 (UIN: 169728).

Department for International Trade: Public Appointments

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether his Department holds information on the socio-economic background of people appointed to senior positions in his Department.

George Hollingbery: The Department for International Trade does not currently hold any information on the socio-economic background of people appointed to senior positions within the Department.The Civil Service is currently looking at the best way to start implementing the measures published earlier in June across Government Departments, to better understand the background of people appointed in senior positions.The Government is committed to social mobility, and we are committed to creating an organisation in which everybody can thrive.

Overseas Trade

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the potential benefits for future UK trade of improved integration between road and rail infrastructure.

George Hollingbery: The Government’s recently published Transport Investment Strategy aims to make Britain a more attractive place to trade and invest through a series of long term investment programmes, which seek to improve the capacity and connectivity of Britain’s transport infrastructure. In April 2018 the Government published its Port Connectivity Study, which made a series of recommendations for improving road and rail links to our ports, and through the Clean Growth Strategy we are examining cost-effective options to shift more freight from road to rail.

Export Controls

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many applications for licences to export controlled goods were denied under article 2c of the consolidated criteria; and which countries were named as the countries to export in those denied applications in each of the last 10 years.

Graham Stuart: Holding answer received on 13 September 2018



Criterion 2c of the Government’s export licensing Criteria states that the Government will not grant a licence if there is a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law (IHL). Criterion 2c has been in force since the adoption by the EU of Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP on 8 December 2008.Since that time 295 Standard Individual Export Licence applications have been refused under Criterion 2 which covers human rights as well as international humanitarian law.Our current database does not breakdown refusals by subsets of the Criteria so the specific information requested cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost.